Legacy Teasers
by Layne Raconteuse
Summary: Get ready as the countdown for the third installment of the A Minecraft Tale trilogy continues. For all of you who enjoy Huntress's Tale and Chronicle, this teaser will be a wild ride. Herobrine is back and on the run. Huntress is betrayed by old friends. All existence threatens to fall into chaos as one god puts his plan for vengeance into play. The rules of the game have changed.
1. Old Enemie's Webs

**Deep in the Rimfall mountains, on the northern edge of the Overworld.**

My feet slipped on the powdery snow, and I fell headlong into the cold. Sharp ice cracked against my face, and when I put a hand to my forehead, it came away bloody. A long, thin scratch ran across my brow.

Coughing, I struggled to my feet, shaking snow out of my face and trying to slap warmth back into my hands. I looked around blearily. Where had Herobrine's spell sent me?

The whole mission was a failure. The red-eyed demon knew we were coming and had laid a trap, one that worked beautifully. My weapons were gone, and my armor- my obsidian armor, the strongest in the Overworld- was rift with deep scores and cracks. I was weak and trembling from the beating, and now the cold and the thin air were getting to me.

Herobrine was gone- trapped in suspended agony at the hands of that thing. He had called it a fallen god, a traitor of an age long past, the one responsible for his fall. The one that brought the curse of the Shadow on the Overworld. It was banished to a shadow dimension, but somehow, it had escaped, and now it had the upper hand all over again. Was it responsible for what happened at FireForge?

Something growled in the distance, and I started moving, looking for shelter. I stood on a high peak, flat on top and rimmed with a circle of standing stones. Perhaps there was a cave down the slope where I could find shelter from the wind and blowing snow.

Lightning cracked across the blackened skies, blindingly illuminating the ice and snow around me in a surreal and macabre display. I blinked, disoriented, and a wave of dizziness fell over me. I fell to my knees.

Lightning struck again, striking and blasting to pieces the stone before me, sending chunks flying. I covered my eyes with one gauntleted hand as chips of scree blew past me. When I uncovered my eyes, I saw a sight that made me nearly cry with relief.

Standing in gold-chased armor and a rich brown cloak was Notch, his sword in hand. I pushed myself onto my feet and started walking towards him, preparing to explain everything.

My voice was barely more than a hoarse whisper. "Notch-" I began, but something hit me from behind. I fell flat, a sharp pain ringing from the base of my skull, starting up a keening in my ears. I lifted my head and spat blood onto the snow- I'd bitten my tongue. Reaching up to touch the forming weal, someone seized my arm and wrenched it behind my back painfully. I got a glimpse of a green-cloaked figure in armor, someone with the aura of a god.

Notch approached me slowly and lifted my chin with the tip of his sword. His stern expression darkened when he saw my face.

"Huntress." He said, his eyes focusing somewhere behind me. He closed his eyes briefly. "So it was you." He heaved a sigh. "What have you done, Huntress? Of all people, I expected this least of you."

The hand holding my arm twisted it a little further. I clenched my teeth against a groan. I didn't know what to say, not with a god holding me down and my very creator holding his sword to my throat. The blade, icy cold on my skin, shifted a little closer to my larynx.

Notch looked me in the eye, and I glared right back.

"Huntress, for the sake of the Overworld and the safety and goodwill of its inhabitants, you are under arrest for your crimes of murder and destruction."

"Murder?" I breathed, then coughed, unable to breathe properly. Notch knelt before me.

"We've been watching you for some time, Huntress. I was hoping it wasn't really you, but it seems I was wrong. However, there were two white-eyed people seen entering the cursed mountain. My brother was with you. Where is he now?"

"He's still inside," I croaked, and the one holding me down cuffed me across the back of my head.

"Speak the truth!" he demanded, and I laughed bitterly.

"The last I saw him, he was still inside. That's all I can tell you." Notch's expression darkened, and I got the sinking feeling that they wouldn't be satisfied with anything I had to say.

"Take her away," Notch ordered. "We'll find the truth whatever it takes."

Notch turned away and sheathed his sword. I opened my mouth to speak, but my face was forced down into the snow and something slammed into the middle of my back.

There was a brief buzzing and then my vision went black.

* * *

 **Amanda the Huntress here. Due to the slow progress in completing the first two titles in this trilogy (Huntress's Tale and Chronicle), I've decided to publish a few teasers from my drafts for the third installment: Legacy.**

 **If you are reading this now and have never read any of my work before, I highly recommend that you go back and look over at least Huntress's Tale, or its first draft, A Minecraft Tale. This way, you know what you're getting into.**

 **That's all for now, folks. More teasers will come soon. I hope you enjoy!**


	2. Schisms

**My fortress, sixty miles north of the ruins of FireForge.**

"I know you are here," said Dragon, slowly pacing down the corridor, _Firefall_ in hand. I didn't move, still watching from the doorway, my eyes concealed behind a black gauze bandage to hide their light.

"Huntress!" Dragon called again, striding to the double doors and pounding with his closed fist when he found them locked. "When I knew you, you were better than this. Come face me in the light."

I moved silently, slipping into a secret passage that took me to the back of the throne room on the other side of the double doors. Easing into the ornate throne, I pulled a lever that opened the doors. Dragon stiffened when he saw me.

"When you knew me, Dragon," I called across the echoing room, "you trusted me. I did just as much lurking then as I do now. The difference is your opinion."

"Don't make this about me," Dragon replied coldly as he walked down the aisle and stopped under the dais. "I didn't betray my purpose as guardian and turn my back on the people that depended on me."

I sighed. "That wasn't my point," I said wearily. "I'm glad you haven't, Dragon, because when this all goes down, the Overworld will need you more than it ever has."

"Are you warning me?"

"Yes," I said coolly, sitting up and leaning towards him. "Because if all my plotting fails, we won't be on opposite sides. I won't even be on the battlefield. I'll be locked in a place I may never escape from, and so will Herobrine. Then the truth will be out, but my vindication will help no one, especially not me."

Dragon blinked and shifted, putting his foot on the first step of the dais.

"What are you saying, Huntress?" he asked suspiciously. "What are you really trying to do here?"

"Save the world," I replied, sitting back. "Even if it means sacrificing everything I am to do it"

Dragon watched me for a long time, then slowly stepped down and shook his head.

"I was sent to arrest you, Huntress," he said, looking around him. "Notch wasn't happy when you escaped him, and he wants to know where Herobrine really is."

I smiled.

"No need to worry," I said. "I will come quietly, when the time is right." I pulled two things from my inventory- a page with a set of coordinates, and _Skyfall._

Dragon immediately went taut and raised _Firefall_ as he backed away, preparing to fight. I reached to him with the paper, bidding him to take it. He snatched it, holding my old sword to my throat.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Directions," I replied. "I will leave signs there for you to follow me. Until then," I raised _Skyfall_ to my own chest, resting the tip over my heart. "Adieu."

"No, Huntress! Wait-"

Before I lost my nerve, I gripped the hilt of my black sword with both hands and pushed, falling to one knee. The blade ripped through my clothing and through muscle and bone, and darkness swallowed me before I could scream.

I awoke, sobbing, on the banks of a river, right where my life first began. For a moment, the world left me in peace, and there was no sound but the whispering of the wind and the babbling water.

Then someone began to slowly applaud, shattering the silence.

Herobrine stepped out of the forest, looking no worse for wear after his ordeal. I looked at the now-bloodless sword in my hand and then at Herobrine.

"You are such a swine," I seethed, angry at his smirk. Stiffening, Herobrine stopped, his face going blank and expressionless.

"I am not gloating," he said. "I am simply congratulating your incredible skill in a game of deception and loyalties. You never cease to amaze me, Huntress. Incredible how much you are willing to do."

I raised _Skyfall_ and examined my reflection. Then I turned the blade so I could see Herobrine's equally colorless gaze. "I could say the same of you, sometimes," I mused. "But I don't see why this surprises you. This is my world. I have nothing left to live for if anything happens to it."

Herobrine inclined his head. "Indeed. We are alike, then, aren't we?"

I nodded from where I sat. "Too much alike."


End file.
